A Walk By A River
by ExcessivelySesquipedalian
Summary: Coming to terms with the impossible after Demon's Run.


**I do not own Doctor Who. Otherwise every episode ever would have been written by Neil Gaiman rather than just The Doctor's Wife. Cause, y'know, Neil Gaiman is the boss.**

It was a truly beautiful place, like no other. Multicolored birds sang sweet choruses in the air. The river rushed by, its waters like a multitude of diamonds, and as it went it made a clear, ringing sound on the hollow glass formations that towered from its banks. Long-branched trees dipped their trailing leaves in the water and made swirling patterns on the bubbling surface. The breeze made the trees and the long grasses by the water's edge dance and sway rhythmically. The entire scene wove together one piece of wild music.

Amy let her feet hang into the water and dug her toes into the pebbly bottom. The sky above was the brightest blue she'd ever seen.

"I don't understand," she said simply.

River smiled gently. That smile had always made Amy feel safer somehow, as if River were her mother telling her everything would be fine. Now she was expected to believe it was the other way around.

Amy gazed at the water as her daughter's comforting arm wrapped around her shoulders. _This isn't right,_ she thought. _I should be the one helping her. I want to be. I want to be the mother of my little girl. But I can't. And even if she's River, how could I be a parent to my best friend? For heaven's sake, she's older than I am! Where did all those years go? Those beautiful years I wanted so much…_

River became distressed as her mother burst into tears. She held her tighter, her feelings in turmoil as much as Amy's. Now that she could, she wanted to tell her everything. All those times she had seen her, and knew she would see her someday, and Amy had been merely her friend. How that nearly broke her heart. Those years she'd spent as a child, waiting for her parents and the wonderful man. How much she loved her and Rory, the names she'd never been able to call them by, the only names that had ever mattered...

Amy sniffed. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I just- I have to get used to it. I just have no idea how to feel. I'm all… mixed up inside."

River wished she could tell her. All those things she felt. But Amy wasn't ready for them- or she couldn't know them yet. River felt oddly that she was the mother in a way, holding Amy. "It's okay," she whispered. "I don't know either."

After a while, Melody Pond took her mother's arm and helped her to her feet. "Come on," she said. "Let's take a walk."

They had come here using the vortex manipulator, after the Doctor had sped off to the rescue. After the angry shouts and desperate explanations. After Rory had sat down in a corner to think and wouldn't talk to anyone until he'd 'sorted himself out'. Amy had asked River- or was it Melody- to take her somewhere, anywhere but Demon's Run. And she had brought her here, to this world of untouched beauty that failed utterly to take her mind off the turmoil her life had become with just three words.

_I'm your daughter._

They walked down the bank together, each full of their own thoughts that they could never in a million years voice to each other. When they finally spoke, both started at the same time.

"You first," Amy said.

"I was just going to tell you, Amy… This really shouldn't change anything. I'm still your friend, and I'm still your daughter. I know you have to get used to the idea that I'm both, but…" She sighed, took Amy's hand, and said the words she'd been so afraid to say. "I love you as both."

Amy looked at her. Her eyes held the same deep, old sadness that they always had as River, a sadness that Melody had yet to feel. Suddenly, Amy knew River was telling the truth. She also knew she wanted nothing more than to make sure River never had to feel that pain, whatever the as yet untold secrets that had caused it were. She threw her arms around the other woman. "I love you too," she whispered.

"Now it's your turn," River told her. "What are you asking?"

Amy scuffed her toe along the ground. "I just wanted to ask you… why do you call me Amy?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" She sighed. "You call me Amy, and not… well, I guess that I'm asking why you never call me Mom. Or something like that."

River had faced down angry daleks, fought wars, piloted crashing ships, and looked death in the eyes and laughed. But this question took her off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… you always call me Amy. And you call Rory… well, Rory. Why not Mom and Dad… or anything like that, really." Amy looked up at her.

River found herself at a loss for words. She laughed nervously. "Would you like me to?"

Amy bent and picked up a stone, flipping it across the water and watching it skip. "I suppose it might make me feel better about all this, yeah."

Suddenly, Melody Pond felt a rush of happiness. Once again, she hugged her mother. "I've always wanted to call you Mom," she confided.

"You're the most wonderful person I've ever met," Amy told her.

And they laughed together, and cried together, and skipped stones across the shimmering river.

"Do you want to know why I took you here?" River asked.

"Why?"

"This river," she said, looking up into the blue sky. "Can you hear it? The music that it makes."

Amy shut her eyes, and contemplated the chiming and rushing of the river, the singing of the birds, the rustling of the grasses.

"The native peoples of this planet have a name for this place. They call it the Glass Towers. But in four hundred years, another race will find it. They will call it the River Song."

Amy looked at her and laughed. "Oh, very clever of you. It's beautiful."

River looked at Amy. "Listen, I know you're afraid. I know you don't want to let me spend all those years alone. But sometimes you can't change things, and the bad things in my life have shaped me as much as the good things, just like anyone."

"But the bad things in your life are so much worse than anyone's should be," Amy said, lying back on the grass. "I just… I can't let that happen."

"Don't worry," River told her. "It'll all be fine."

And they held each other, mother and child, lost and found, there on the banks of the river, and they cried, in sadness and in joy. Beside them, the river rushed on and on, ringing its melody on the clear glass spires that wound their way into the sky.

Amy gazed into the sapphire heavens, a smile almost on her lips but still tempered by all that had happened to her. _I can learn to live with this,_ she thought. _I can love River as her mother._ She sat up. "I just need one explanation, young lady. If you knew all along that you're my daughter, then why did you ever think I would approve of you kissing the Doctor?"

River laughed.

"I am not joking," Amy said, her arms crossed. "I mean, _I_ kissed the Doctor. That's just wrong. And I disapprove of his kissing any daughter of mine. What was behind that?"

"Spoilers, Mom," River chuckled, tapping her nose.

"Oh, if you think I'll be satisfied with that you've got another thing coming. I'll get that answer out of you, if it's the last thing I do."

In the end, one can learn to accept all things. Time heals all wounds, even if some leave scars. The impossible can become the everyday, and the incomprehensible can be understood and accepted. Love holds all things together. Love can say a million unspoken words with a single look, or a single kiss, or with a hand placed in yours by someone you'll have to learn to love in another way. And in the end, you're looking forward to seeing them in a new light.

Somewhere, sometime, little Melody Pond smiled.

**There you go! My second fanfic. Coming soon- Death Whispers! Please review- it would greatly help my 'oh my god how can I actually let other people read my stories' insecurities to know that there are actually people reading this. Especially since I have no idea how to check hits. See you, Sweeties!**


End file.
